Two teenage boys left their madrasa and did not return. Their guardians then filed a general diary at the police station, alleging that they had been abducted.
Meanwhile a video reached the Imo account of one boy’s father, showing a boy with his hands and feet tied being beaten, along with a demand for a ransom. In the end the two “abducted” boys were found at a restaurant in Jaintapur.
RAB says it was not an abduction: the boys went into hiding themselves because they did not want to study at the madrasa.
A team from RAB-9 raided the Mayer Doa Shahjalal restaurant at Haripur bazar in Fatehpur union of Jaintapur upazila, Sylhet, at about 3.30pm on Saturday (September 19) and recovered the two boys.
The media officer of RAB-9 and additional superintendent of police, K M Shahidul Islam Sohag, confirmed the matter on Sunday (September 20).
The two boys recovered are both 15 and are students in the hifz section of the Jabale Noor Hafizia Madrasa and Orphanage in the Khadimpara area of Sylhet city. One is from Uttar Mansurpur village in Zakiganj upazila, Sylhet, and the other from Barobon village in Dowarabazar upazila, Sunamganj. BD Global Times is not naming them because they are children.
RAB-9 said the two boys left the madrasa together at the time of the fajr prayer on September 15 and did not return.
The madrasa’s director, Tofayel Ahmed, informed the guardians. After searching various likely places and the homes of relatives without finding them, the guardians filed a general diary at Shahparan police station.
On the morning of September 17, a voice message demanding money was then sent to the Imo app on one boy’s father’s mobile phone from an account with no number. A video call came from the same account that evening, showing a boy who looked like his son being beaten with his hands and feet tied. Another video was sent later. The apparent abduction of the two boys caused a stir in the area.
RAB-9 began a shadow investigation after the incident. In the course of it, the boys’ location at the restaurant at Haripur bazar in Jaintapur upazila was identified on Saturday afternoon. Both were then recovered in a raid.
In initial questioning the two boys said they had no interest in studying at the madrasa. One of them had run away from the madrasa twice before. After leaving the madrasa on September 15 they went to Haripur bazar in Jaintapur of their own accord and started work at the restaurant.
The sending of the ransom video remains a mystery, however.
ASP K M Shahidul Islam Sohag said: “We have questioned the two boys. They said the video is not of them and that they did not send any such video.”
He said: “After news of the children going missing became known, some interested group may have used a video of another child to demand money from the family. The matter is being investigated. Efforts are under way to identify those involved.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report